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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: Sloan Simpson on February 09, 2008, 02:54:37 PM

Title: Unity on the D50?
Post by: Sloan Simpson on February 09, 2008, 02:54:37 PM

I don't have a real firm grasp on unity gain (or much else  :P), but I understand that you don't want to add gain at the a/d stage.  Can anyone advise where to set the D50 so I'll be doing it "by the book"?

edit - I mean running line in, I run KM184>V2>D50

Title: Re: Unity on the D50?
Post by: Sloan Simpson on February 10, 2008, 02:35:08 PM

Hmm, maybe I should re-phrase.  Anyone suggest how I can go about determining such myself?

Title: Re: Unity on the D50?
Post by: Sloan Simpson on February 11, 2008, 10:04:04 AM

Quote from: Moke on February 11, 2008, 09:28:39 AM

Is the D50 another one of Sony's attenuating gain adjustments?
Sony portables have infamously been better run at wide open (line-in), and adjusting the outboard preamp gain to get the desired levels.
This is due to its attenuating any signal, rather than giving it positive gain. So you run wide open to avoid the attenuating circuitry.

Well after I posted this I went out taping.  I ran the D50 at 3 (out of 10) and ran the V2 where it was flashing a healthy red but not "sticking" in the red; the numbers are all worn off my V2 faceplate so this is the best description I have  ::)  Sounded great, and I didn't get overs or anything.

Based on that I assume that if I were to run the D50 wide open I would have to turn the V2 WAY down . . .  I'm happy with what I've been getting so far, but wanna make sure I'm squeezing all the goodness I can get out of the gear  8)

BTW, I arrived at the number 3 by cranking the V2 all the way up during house music, and setting the D50 input to where it hit zero, then backed down a bit, landing at 3.  Does this have any bearing on determining unity gain?

Title: Re: Unity on the D50?
Post by: JM Charcot on May 11, 2009, 06:23:42 AM

Hello,

so the unity gain on the D50 would be at 3 when recording on the "line in"?

What is the best way to determine the unity gain on a device?

Kind regards,

JM.

Title: Re: Unity on the D50?
Post by: Arni99 on May 11, 2009, 07:43:59 AM

I usually connect my radio/cd-player to the recorder (Line-In) and adjust the levels.
This is MY way to determine unity gain.
Radio and Cd player provide line-in-level-signal through my home-stereo-preamp.
Didn't test it with my D50 yet ..... I got it some days ago.

Title: Re: Unity on the D50?
Post by: Belexes on May 11, 2009, 09:25:59 AM

I agree on "3" as unity. I fed the deck (line-in) a track on which I know where the "peaks" of the recording are and moving the gain dial up from zero on D50 until I got to about 3 when things matched.  Not the most scientific way, but worked for me.  If I wanted to, I could have recorded and then compared the wav forms on my computer from the original track to the recorded one on the D50 to see if they matched up at "3."

Title: Re: Unity on the D50?
Post by: Dede2002 on May 11, 2009, 09:55:10 AM

Quote from: Arni99 on May 11, 2009, 07:43:59 AM

I usually connect my radio/cd-player to the recorder (Line-In) and adjust the levels.
This is MY way to determine unity gain.
Radio and Cd player provide line-in-level-signal through my home-stereo-preamp.
Didn't test it with my D50 yet ..... I got it some days ago.

Humm, so you got a new toy  :hmmm:
Have fun, my friend  ;D

Title: Re: Unity on the D50?
Post by: hammerhorror on May 13, 2009, 04:02:06 PM

I have determined unity gain on the Sony PCM-D50 to be at level 4 when running line in.

I did this by sending a 1 kHz sine wave via the tone oscillator on my Sound Devices 442 mixer to the line input of the D50. Position 4 on the D50's record level gave me perfectly matched levels between both devices.

Title: Re: Unity on the D50?
Post by: illconditioned on May 13, 2009, 09:15:50 PM

I haven't tested it yet.   Does anyone know the gain?  Ie., how many dB per volume unit?

  Richard